UNH Speakers Bureau

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Humans and Wildlife

 

Program Description:

Endocrinology is the study of hormones. Hormones are the chemical signals that control all processes within an organism—at the cellular level (ex. gene), tissue (ex. Brain, thyroid) or organismal (ex. growth, development, behavior). Research shows that hundreds of different chemicals, particularly manmade, contribute to the malfunction in the performance of a body’s endocrine systems. Endocrine Disruptors are defined as any chemical that can exert its effect by mimicking or interfering with the actions of hormones that can produce adverse effects in humans and wildlife http://www.epa.gov/endocr This presentation will cover some of the common chemicals and the adverse impacts they are having on both humans and wildlife.


Speaker:

Stacia Sower

Stacia Sower, Ph.D., Oregon State U., is the Director of the Center for Molecular and Comparative Endocrinology, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the director of the Anadromous Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Research Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire. Her primary area of research concerns biomedical endocrinology, structure and function of brain hormones in mediating reproductive processes in freshwater and marine fish and endocrine disrupting hormones.

Other topics offered by Stacia Sower